Thank goodness it's Monday!

Weekends are looked forward to by most persons as a time to relax or do something entertaining. Another value of weekends is a chance to catch up on work you didn't get done during the week. Family visits also often happen over the weekend.

I'm not sure what category I fit into. The last two weekends have been a mixture of work, pleasure, visiting, excitement and stress. I know each time I was glad to see Monday come with its routine.

The first weekend I was at the YMCA of the Ozarks where Lester came to meet me on Friday in our old pick-up. Our task was to drive the pick-up down to Kennett, Mo., (in the bootheel), where my book publisher was removing all the books from her warehouse. If we came to get my books as well as my sister Ellen's books she was reducing their price enough to make the trip worthwhile. I was running low on a couple of my titles so we were willing, or maybe even eager, to take her offer.

Our pick-up has a camper shell on it, so we weren't worried about the weather, but books do weigh a lot, so we wanted to reduce the strain on the old pick-up by renting a U-Haul to bring the books back.

We left comfortable Trout Lodge early on Saturday for our trip south. It was misting rain and rather chilly but the weather gradually cleared away the fog and we could enjoy the different terrain. We had each travelled in that area before but not recently so it was fun to see sorina appear before our eyes as we drove further south. Each few miles gave us oportunities to see different things in bloom or in leaf. We didn't realize that we had taken the scenic route (which in the Ozarks means twisty and curvy) so it took us much longer to reach our U-Haul dealer than we had arranged for. However a cell phone message fixed that problem and we were able to get hooked up with a U-Haul, lights connected (which was a relief because we weren't sure our connection still worked) and were on our way to the warehouse.

That's where the work part comes in. Those boxes of books didn't just jump up off the floor and arrange themselves nicely in the truck or the trailer. And, they were very dusty. I suggested to our publisher that we should hire some local person to help with the loading and she finally was able to get some help. We ended up with over a ton of books to bring back.

I was due back at the Lodge for another Elderhostel session, so Lester drove on to Lebanon on Sunday by himself to unload Ellen's books there and turn in the trailer. I think he was happy to get rid of the vehicle that had been tailgating him for miles. Now our house is well insulated with boxes of books.

The next weekend we were all home together, hosting a cookout when our great-granddaughter's kitten got scared up a tree by our grandson's dogs. Long after the dogs had left, Pumpkin was still up the tree. As it was getting dark our great-granddaughter climbed up an extension ladder and the kitten gratefully went into her arms. They both got down safely but my muscles are still tense from watching the procedure.

I'm not sure which weekend gets the prize but each certainly took us out of our routine paths into new territory, and even up a tree!